Mario and Toad's Stupid Pocky Game Misadventure
by CloudySkies17695
Summary: Mario has always been the happy and carefree type. He's also well-known for being humble, noble, and brave. That's why so many like him. One day, a Toad reassures this fact with himself when he invites the red-clad hero to play a game with him. It's not just any game, though. It's the Pocky Game. With this in mind, it could only go so well…


Mario moseyed through Toad Town as he whistled a familiar tune (It was the title theme to the original Paper Mario if you really care). He always enjoyed brisk walks like this, today being no different. He paused for a moment, feeling the breeze flow through his hair as he took a deep breath and adjusted his cap to make sure it wouldn't blow off. He was so caught up in his little world that he almost didn't hear a voice call out to him.

"Mario!" a raspy voice shouted. Mario turned around, knowing too well know the voice belonged to. Within his sights was Toad, waving his right arm at him rapidly as he held a red, rectangular box in his left hand. The red-clad Italian (Or at least we're pretty sure he is. It's kind of hard to tell my looks alone) couldn't help but smile as he walked towards the mushroom retainer and crouched down.

"Hello there, Toad!" Mario chimed. "Do you need something?"

Toad looked down at the box he was holding and flushed slightly and looked back towards Mario, and stared straight into his sapphire eyes. "Well, I want to play a game."

Mario instantly lit up. "Sure! I'm not busy anyway! What game do you want to play?"

Toad averted his eyes again for a brief moment as he flushed again. "It… It's called the Pocky Game."

Mario tilted his head as the rubbed his chin. "Hmm… The Pocky Game? Can't say I've ever heard of it. How do you play?"

Toad hastily looked around from left to right to make sure no one was nearby. When the coast was clear, he sighed and cleared this throat, proceeding to take out what appeared to be a chocolate-covered biscuit in his mouth. "Well, you see, Mario, two people take a stick of this thing called Pocky and they each but an end of it in their mouth. Then, they take turns biting it until they reach the middle, and the one to chicken out first is the loser.

Mario flinched back a bit, becoming a bit red in the face himself. "Aww, come on now, Toad," he jested/ "If we were to do that, we'd pretty much be kissing."

"You think I don't know that?!" Toad exclaimed, practically shouting. He looked down at the ground for a moment before shooting his head back up. "Please, Mario, just one round! I promise to leave you alone for the rest of the day afterwards! Please at try it once! If you don't like it, that's ok! I'll never ask you to do it again!" Toad knew in his heart this was hopeless, for Mario's heart belonged to the Princess. Despite this, whether or not she returned the feeling was rather ambiguous, so he still had that bit of hope.

Soon enough, Mario sighed and rub Toad's mushroom cap (That's what it is, right?) and smiled at him. "Alright. I suppose one quick round couldn't hurt." Not only could he just not say no to the adorable and simple face that was that of a Toad, but he could also call the game quits early if he really wanted to.

Toad's eyes glimmered for a brief second before snatching a piece of Pocky from the box and stuck the chocolate side in his mouth, signaling Mario to bite down on his side. Mario did as such, but accidentally bit down too hard, causing the Pocky to break.

Toad just looked at Mario with a blank and unamused expression. "Um, Mario?" he asked dryly. "You're not supposed to bite down that hard."

Mario rubbed the back of his cap and gave a sheepish laugh. "Oh, sorry about that, Toad!" he responded facetiously. "Guess I was just a bit confused by what you meant when you said to bite down."

Toad huffed in frustration, but couldn't help but to give a half-smile at Mario's remark. He looked down at the box of Pocky again, only to realize there were two sticks left, much to his horror and dismay. He only had a couple chances left, and he knew they had to make the most of them. Toad extended his right arm rotating his hand as he spread his fingers apart as he got ready to grab the stick of Pocky that was processed in his vision. Then he… Wait. This is way too much detail, huh? Fine, then. Toad grabbed another Pocky. Moving on.

He bit down on the bare side of the iconic treat, Mario soon biting down on the other side, taking extra caution to not bite down too hard this time. Now, the game could finally begin. Toad made the first move, with Mario following soon after. The two got close and closer and eventually, the two were about one-thirds away from each other and someone had yet to break the Pocky, accident or not. Mario was pondering what to do at this point. He was thinking of breaking the Pocky, following up by giving a small peck on Toad's nose (I mean, Toads have noses, right?), but before Mario could process more ideas, Toad chomped down on the Pocky, much to his surprise.

Toad quickly turned his back towards the plumber (Or "ex-plumber". Look, I don't know) and began to sob as he covered his eyes. "I can't do it!" he cried. "I just can't do it, Mario! I'm too much of a coward to even follow through with my dumb ideas! How can I even play this stupid game when I'm too nervous to even see it through?"

Mario couldn't help but feel bad for the despondent Toad in front of him. He already had an idea of how important this game was to him, but he didn't think he would take it this badly. Mario just sat there on his knees, not too sure what to do. All of a sudden, something hit him.

"Hey, Toad. Can I see that last stick of Pocky?

Toad turned back towards Mario, still sniveling. "Why? Don't you know I'm to spineless to continue playing?"

The mustached man gave a concerned grin as he went to pat Toad on the head, but the latter quickly turned away again, stepping back a bit. "I-I suppose you can have the last one, but it's only really because I don't want to play anymore. I-It's not like I'm trying to be nice or anything!"

Mario just gave a worried laugh as he took the last stick of Pocky out of the box and placed it in his palms. "Hey, Toad?"

Reluctantly, Toad turned back towards Mario who proceeded to give the stick of Pocky a quick smooch and handed it back to Toad. Toad just stared at the Pocky for a little while, processing what just happened, becoming red in the face soon after.

Mario laughed to himself. "I lose!" he beamed. He got up and dusted off the grass that got on his overalls, following up by blowing a kiss at Toad. "I will admit, though. That was kind of fun. I have to go now, though. See you around!" With that, he began dashing off, turning his head back for a brief moment and gleefully waved at the mushroom retainer.

Toad just continued to stand there, his face still as red as the spots on his weird mushroom cap as his eyes slowly began to sparkle and fill with life. He looked down at the stick of Pocky that Mario had given back to given as a smile began to form on his face and kissed the Pocky in the same place Mario did and whispered three words: "Thank you, Mario."


End file.
